Sunshine and showers – April’s highlights

April may have started with the Easter holidays but there was no rest for UNISON staff, activists and members. And there was only one issue on everyone’s mind – pay.

Pay, pay, pay

The first half of April was dominated by pay. The union accepted the local government pay offer after consultation with branches. The two year deal affects hundreds of thousands of local government members and, amongst other highlights, will see a 16% pay increase for those currently on the lowest scale and a pay increase of between 15% and 4.3% for those on the current SCPs 7-28.

Members in Hull who work in recycling started the month with a 14 day strike for decent pay and a better sick pay scheme. Last year one of the members in Hull was diagnosed with cancer but was denied sick pay.

And pay dominated UNISON’s health conference this month as the NHS pay consultation opened. Led by UNISON, the health unions have secured £4.2 billion of new money to fund a proposed three year pay deal for NHS staff.

More on this

Local government service group members include employees from councils, schools, further education and the Food Standards Agency. Find out how the service group works, the issues we face and some of our achievements.

in Campaigns

The idea behind a living wage is very simple: that a person should be paid enough to live decently and to adequately provide for their family. At its heart is an ethical argument for preventing in-work poverty and ensuring workers are not exploited through low wages.